An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Bast

by Friedrich Kluge

Bast, masculine, ‘inner bark of trees, husk,’ from the equivalent Middle High German bast (also buost with gradation), Old High German *bast, masculine, neuter. It corresponds to Anglo-Saxon bœst, English, Dutch and Old Icelandic bast, Gothic *bastus. Hence the derivative Old High German and Middle High German besten, ‘to strap,’ as well as the Romance cognate basto, ‘pack-saddie’ (see under Bastard), with which Swiss bašt, ‘saddle,’ agrees. There is no justification for deriving the words from binden, for the absence of the nasal, the occurrence of st (for which we should have expected ss from dh + t), and the gradation in Middle High German buost render such a derivation impossible. The resemblance in sound between this word and binden proves nothing as to the etymology; this popular and superficial derivation was suggested by the use of bast. The Teutonic word, which is more probably connected with the root bes appearing in Besen, found its way into Romance; compare Italian basta, ‘basting, stitching.’